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Ohio State Provides No Mercy

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Think Detroit couldn’t bear to look?

Imagine how UCLA felt, back home as the team that sent it back to Los Angeles on a wave of dismay two days earlier Saturday scored 12 points in the first half, allowed the opponent to shoot 58.8% in the second half and got drilled by 31 points in the second round of the South Regional.

Ohio State’s victory over Detroit before 32,758 at the RCA Dome came with a 75-44 margin, official notification of the rout in case the Bruins didn’t bother to turn on their televisions to watch the team that dumped them from the tournament on Thursday.

Or maybe UCLA and its fans--those who didn’t break their legs in the mass exodus off the bandwagon--turned their sets off in disgust, or continued wonderment, after the first 9 1/2 minutes . . . at which point Detroit still had not scored on Ohio State.

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The Titans, the Midwestern Collegiate Conference champions, finally made it 12-2 after 9:48 and 13 consecutive misses and three turnovers to open the game. Six of those were three-pointers.

By halftime, the Ohio State lead was 25-12--and that was with the Buckeyes having shot 25.9%. Detroit was at 20% (five for 25), with two assists against six turnovers.

“I won’t necessarily take credit away from Ohio State, they played a great game,” Titan forward Bacari Alexander said after tying for the team lead with four rebounds. “But coach always reminds us of how we hurt ourselves in games. There just were some situations where we could have had better shot selection or defensive reads. It didn’t quite click together.”

Not quite.

Once the Buckeyes started hitting, it got even uglier. They scored 58 points in the second half and led by 31 points on two occasions, including the final, and the 75 points marked the most Detroit allowed in its 25-6 season and second consecutive trip to the second round.

That put fourth-seeded Ohio State, winners of 12 of its last 14 games, in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1992, also the last time the Buckeyes were even in the tournament.

“I thought we played very well tonight,” Coach Jim O’Brien said. “I think we were terrific defensively.

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“This is a real nice win for us. I am happy to see our kids as happy as they are. I will not soon forget the [celebration] scene in the locker room after the game. This is a happy group of kids. All year I have been telling them they deserve it.”

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